Update: A benefit concert will be held at 9 p.m. March 10 at Butch's Bar, 112 S. Third Ave., Sturgeon Bay to help pay for funeral expenses.

STURGEON BAY - Joe Tanck had a big heart, but not such a big checkbook.

"We grew up poor, but we were happy," said Chris Tanck, one of Joe's sons. "If someone needed help, Dad would do what he could. I don't remember him ever saying 'no' to anyone. He'd expect you to pay him back, but if you couldn't, well, that was that."

Since Joe Tanck's death at 68 on New Year's Eve from liver failure, many of the folks touched by his generosity and simple kindness are making donations to pay for his funeral.

A GoFundMe account was set up by Chris Tanck, 39, after the family's mobile home furnace stopped working and water pipes froze during the bitter cold at the end of December. This was followed by other home appliances malfunctioning and repair expenses mounting.

"We'd like to give him the burial he deserves but cannot get enough of a break to start saving the money to make it happen," Chris Tanck said.

In the past 25 days, the GoFundMe account to raise $2,000 for funeral expenses has surpassed the half-way point with donations by 33 people, including the former Sturgeon Bay police chief.

"Dad would be pretty happy and touched by the amount of people donating," Chris Tanck said.

As Chris Tanck remembered his father, he touched the yellowed, warped photos of him. One showed father and son on Christmas Day in 1978 and another of Joe Tanck home from his military service overseas wearing a helmet.

"I wish I had better photos of him," Chris Tanck said. "He was a good man, a giving man. I think he did the best with what he had."

Chris Tanck said he doesn't dwell in the past about the things his father could have done differently. Rather, Chris Tanck said he focuses on the present and a brighter future for him and his younger brother, Andrew Tanck, 38.

For months, Chris Tanck had cared for his father in the mobile home he shared with his dad and brother.

"I tried to keep a job going while caring for Dad, but it was becoming pretty hard to manage both," Chris Tanck said. "My brother has a job and I have an online re-sale site so there's some income, but not enough."

Shortly before his father died, Chris lost his job and applied to be his father's home healthcare worker. About the same time as their father's death, the furnace stopped working and the brothers used space heaters to warm their mobile home.

As his sons were coping with expenses to repair the furnace, Joe Tanck's health spiraled downward and Chris Tanck took him to the hospital which transferred his father to a Green Bay hospital, where he died Dec. 31 from liver failure related to alcoholism.

"Our dad was an alcoholic and that caused the liver failure. We knew it was getting pretty bad, but it was sooner than we thought," Chris Tanck said.

Unlike alcoholics who become violent, angry or mean when drunk, Joe Tanck was simply happy and content to watch the crowd from his perch at the bar, particularly Butch's Bar in Sturgeon Bay.

"Joe was always welcome here. He was friendly and courteous to everyone," said Clarence Cumber, owner of Butch's Bar and friend of Joe Tanck for more than 20 years.

Former Sturgeon Bay Police Chief Dan Trelka remembered his interactions with Joe Tanck when Trelka was a patrol officer and Joe Tanck was a cab driver.

"I'd stop and chat with him (when Joe Tanck was waiting for a cab customer) and he was just a nice guy, a happy-go-lucky guy," he said.

Over the years, Trelka developed a relationship with Joe Tanck and described him as a man who worked hard to provide for his two sons and, also, cared about the welfare of others.

"He did all that he could with what he had," Trelka said. He saw on Facebook that Joe Tanck had died and his son had started a GoFundMe account to help pay for the funeral expenses.

"So many of us have been so successful in life," Trelka said. "Why not donate $25 to help out someone else? It's how we help one another."

The $2,000 won't cover all the expenses but will give the brothers a start, Chris Tanck said.

A fundraiser concert also is being planned with a tentative date for Feb. 16 at Butch's Bar.

"Thanks to a lot of kind people who remember our dad, we're more than half-way there," he said. "I can't even begin to express my gratitude for the help."

How to help

To donate go to https://www.gofundme.com/help-with-death-of-father

For more information about the fundraiser concert, email Chris Tanck at doorvintage@gmail.com